Follow Us

More

X-Men: Original Colossus Actor Returning for Dark Phoenix

Daniel Cudmore, who played Colossus in three X-Men films, will return in the latest installment of the franchise, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. However, there is some confusion as to whether or not he will be reprising the role as the Russian mutant or if he will be playing a different character.

The new film will follow characters that were established in the last three films in the series: First Class, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse. In First Class, fans were introduced to younger versions of Professor Charles Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, and Beast during the 1960s. Days of Future Past was a time travel story that blended characters from First Class and the characters from the X-Men trilogy. The story effectively "rebooted" the X-Men universe, allowing characters to be recast and events to be rewritten. Apocalypse took place in the 1980s and brought in even more younger versions of the X-Men, including Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Nightcrawler. Dark Phoenix will continue their story with an early 1990s setting.

Canadian actor Daniel Cudmore will be joining the cast of X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Cudmore played Colossus in the 2003 film X2 and reprised the role in X-Men: The Last Stand. The actor also returned to play the character in Days of Future Past in 2014. Though it may seem obvious to fans that Cudmore's role in Dark Phoenix would be Colossus, there is some confusion as to who the actor is actually playing. When a fan asked Cudmore on Twitter if he would be playing Colossus or Gladiator, Cudmore stated that he could not reveal the character's name.

It could be that Cudmore is playing another character, especially since he declined to return in Deadpool due to the fact that his voice would be dubbed by someone else. Instead, Stefan Kapicic voiced a CGI version of Colossus. Kapicic will voice the character a second time in Deadpool 2. It would understandably create more confusion if Colossus appeared in two films in the same year played by two different actors. It's also worth noting that if Cudmore were to appear in Dark Phoenix, his appearance could be disguised with CGI to keep him from looking too similar to his Colossus character.

In that case, the fan's theory that Cudmore's character could be Gladiator, may actually be plausible. Gladiator is a member of Imperial Guard who are pledged to serve the Shi'ar Empire. Sometimes thought of as Marvel's version of Superman in terms of sheer power, Gladiator is a powerful antagonist for the X-Men. Since the X-Men are expected to encounter the Shi'ar in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Gladiator could make an appearance.